Australia desperate to stop the All Black tide

Richie McCaw made a winning return to international rugby in Sydney last weekend

If Australia thought the mauling at the hands of the Lions (any excuse…) was bad, then last week’s 47-29 capitulation to the All Blacks was a sharp reminder that it’s going to take more than a new man in charge to solve their problems.

They might have survived a close call in the history books (New Zealand fell three points shy of a record points haul), but Ewen McKenzie’s charges have it all to do when they travel to Wellington to try to save the Bledisloe Cup series – and one man in particular stands tall in their way.

Fresh from his seven-month sabbatical from the game, Richie McCaw returned to the international fold last weekend – and it didn’t take him long to ruffle Aussie feathers, with both McKenzie and captain James Horwill quick to point out that McCaw was lucky to stay on after blunting numerous attacks from beneath his invisibility cloak.

That said, the All Blacks were ruthless in attack, with Ben Smith’s hat-trick the pick of the headlines. They can only get better given home advantage this weekend, while Australia need to find answers to a plethora of problems, with Izzy Folau too isolated, James O’Connor desperately short of confidence and the number 10 conundrum ever present.

One bright spark was the performance of Aussie number nine Will Genia (again). One can’t help but wonder what would happen if he was in a black shirt on Saturday. An Ashes score, in all likelihood.